Forged brake-beam fulcrum.



F. J. SCHROEDER.

FORGL'D BRAKE BEAM FULCRUML APPLICAIION FILED OCT. 28. 1915.

awmwboz Freda?) ckJ scbr'oeder 2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

Patented July 25, 1916.

F. J. SCHROEDEH.

FORGED BRAKE BEAM FULCRUM.

APPLICATION HIED act. 28. I915.

Patented July 25, 1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

ffea eY'ick tlsdnoeder Momma J.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

mnnnnrci'z J. scnnonnnn, or CLEVELAND, OHIO, ASSIGNOB, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS,

TO THE DAMASGUS BRAKE BEAM (70., OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, OHIO, (INCORPORATED FEBRUARY 25, 1916.)

A CORPORATION OF FORGED BRAKE-BEAM FULCRUM.

Original application filed July 30, 1,914,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Fnnonnrcn- J. Scrrnonnnn, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Forged Brake-Beam Fulcrums, of which the followingis a specification.

My invention relates to fulcrums for trussed brake beams and particularly to the class of such fulcrums called forged fulcrums, which are made by shaping up a comparatively' light bar or bars of rolled steel stock, in accordance with the method described in my copending application Serial No. 854,151, filed July 30, 1914, of Whlch this forms a divisional application. Such a fulcrum is used byintroducing it in position to serve as a strut between the compression and tension members of the brake beam. It is required to have a pair of arms spaced apart to leave a slot between them for the reception of a brake lever and transverse hearings to receive a in which passes through the arms and the rake lever in pivotally mounting the lever upon the fulcrum. It must also have suitable bearings at its respective ends to receive the compression and tension members. The slot is usually required to be in a plane inclined to the vertical" and to the plane of the compression and tension members, which adds somewhat to the complication of shaping up the fulcrum and renders particularly difficult the provision of the tension member bearing at the outer end, which is required to be in the form of a seat to secure the tension member against transverse displacement under the Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 25, 1916;

Serial 110. 854,151. Divided and this application filed October 28, 1915. Serial No. 58,419.

practice, the length of slot required for swinging of the brake lever takes up so much of the available space between the compression and tension member bearings of the fulcrum as to render very undesirable, if not very difficult, the use of any con necting means near the tension member bearing. Moreover, the plane of the tension member bearing so far approaches the plane of the slot as to develop a considerable tend ency to separate the walls of the slot and thus add to the insecurity of the riveted type i of tension member bearing.

The ob ect of the, present invention is to provide a slotted brake beam fulcrum of the brake beam structure.

According to the preferred method of procedure, the outer end of the fulcrum is subjected to pressure in the direction of one of its dimensions while being confined in the direction of the other dimension, so that the '75 render permanent and safe what is ordi' narlly a very vulnerable part of the trussed metal accumulates in a solid block-like body integral with both arms of the fulcrum, assuming a position which adapts it to bridge from one corner tothe diagonally opposite corner, and thus deliver a direct thrust upon the two arms of the fulcrum and having the metal gathered in from the other two diagonally opposite corners, so as to provide solid and substantial side walls ,to the seat of the tension member. The shape of the seat will, of course, depend upon the section of the tension member which it is to receive. In the illustration selected, the seat is adapt ed for a tension member of round section.

Preferably, this shaping up of the outer end of the fulcrum blank is accomplished in a so-called heading machine, carrying a die which is forced against the end of the fulcrum while said end is confined in a suitable mold, and the metal of the fulcrum in rear of the part to be consumed in the shaping operation being firmly gripped and backed up between clamping dies; the endwise pressure being sufficient to forge the end into a single integral mass, shaped to confine the tension member on the end of the fulcrum,

tion, I will proceed to describe in detail, the particular embodiment selected for purposes 7 ,of illustration.

j Figure 1 is a perspective view of the preferred form of my brake beam fulcrum intended for a cylindrical tension member; Fig. 2, a side elevation of a portion of the fulcrum; Fig. 3, a plan view of Fig. 2; Fig. 4, a view of the two pieces of stock for the fulcrum after the first operation; Fig. 5,

the same pieces put together in position for the last operation, namely, the forming of the head; Fig. 6, a cross section along line 66 of Fig. 5'looking toward the right, and

Fig. 7, an end view of Figs. 3 and 4:, seen from the right.

The reference characters 11 and 12 designate arms or body members constituting the fulcrum, and 13 designates the tension member of the brake beam for which a head 15, with a seat 1 1, is provided on the fulcrum.

The body members 11 and 12 may be made either from two pieces of stool; or from a single piece, which, in the latter case, then will have to be doubled up at the bend where the head is'going to be formed. The two arms or body members are preferably first twisted and then bent, and the necessary 'be equally distributed by both arms.

holes 16 punched therein, see Fig. 4. The arms are then clamped rigidly together, see Fig. 5-, leaving-the necessary space or slot 17 between them, whereupon they are heated and subsequently placed in a female die. Finally, a plunger is made to advance into this die and shape and finish the head 15 with the seat 14 forthe tension member 13.

It will be noted that the head 15 is placed diagonally across the two arms 11 and 12, see Figs. 6 and 7, bridging the space17 and forming an integral part with the arms so that the pressure of the tension member e opposite two ends 18 of the body portions are bent together to form a head for compression member 19 and the cap 22 is provided for embracing the compression member and holding it tightly against the head. A bolt 23 is drawn through the inner ends of the cap and below the head of the fulcrum to securely clamp the head, compression member and cap together.

Now the advantage of a brake beam fulcrum manufactured in this manner by forg ing, over a fulcrum of the same dimensions and shape made from casting material, is considerable. In the cast. fulcrum the strength per square inch will be the same throughout the whole piece. The strength per square inch in the forged fulcrum, on the other hand, has been much increased inthe head 15, where it is most needed, by means of the specific treatment to which the head has been exposed. The treatment is'comparable with that of steel wire in which the tensile strength has been more than doubled by drawing the wire. The inherent tensile strength of the material has in the case of the fulcrum forged in this manner, been similarly increased at the place where strength is most needed, that is at the tension member seat, by the specific treatment to which it has been exposed.

The previous twistin of the ends 20, 21 after which the head %.5 is formed, relatively to the arms 11 and 12, followed by the forging and solidifying of the? ends, has the further advantage that the finished head with the seat 14 is placed diagonally over the arms or members 11 and 12, or in other words, that for instance, the end 20 forming one side of the head and being a part of the member 11, has now .been twisted and firmly joined, not only to the end 21, but also to the member 12, the grain of end 20 after the welding, running in to the latter member. Thus any pressure transmitted through the side of the head formed by the end 20 is transmitted to and sustained by both arms or members 11 and 12. The advantage of this over brake beams in which the slot has been stronger has been obvious, and in which the pressure is taken up over the space between the members, whereas in the present case such pressure is taken up directly over the two fulcrum members. To better illustrate this, Figs. 6 and 7 have been supplied, of which Fig. 6 shows the position of the ends 20, 21 relatively to the body 'members 11 and 12.v Adjoining surfaces of the ends 20, 21 run along line A-A in this figure, while the axis of the tension member 13 and its seat 14 will ultimately coincide with the line CG in the figure when the head and seat have been formed. as illus trated in Fig. 7 The advantage of this willbe obvious, because if the joining of the two ends 20, 21 should for some resaon or other not be perfect, which is, however, most unlikely to happen, therewill be no tendency to split the joint open when. the am'sof the tension member runs in the direction of the line CC across the joiningv line A'-A of the ends 20, 21. y y I 1. A forged metal fulcrum. for brake beams, comprising a pair of substantially parallel wrought metal armsspaced apart to provide a lever slot therebetween, said arms having their ends formed with a solid, integral head provided with a recessed seat for a truss member extending diagonally across the planes of said parallel arms, the portions of said solid head at the respective sides of the medial longitudinal plane of said recessed seat constituting originally integral' portions of both of said spaced arms.

2. A forged metal fulcrum for brake beams, comprising a pair of substantially parallel wrought metal arms spaced apart to provide a lever slot therebetween, said arms having their ends formed with a solid, integral head provided with a recessed seat for a truss member extending diagonally across the-planes of said parallel arms, each of the side walls of said diagonally-extending, recessed seat constituting originally integral portions of bo h of said spaced arms.

3. A forke metal fulcrum for brake beams, comprising a pair of substantially parallel Wrought metal arms spaced apart to provide a lever slot therebetween, said arms having their endsformed with a solid, integral head extending across the entire width ot said pair of parallel arms and provided wlth a recessed seat for a truss member; extending diagonally across the planes of said arms, each of the side walls of said diagonally-extending, recessed seat constituting originally integral portions of both of said spaced arms.

The foregoing specification signed at Cleveland, Ohio, this 11th day of October,

' FREDERICK SCI-IROEDER. 

